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PERVASIVE CONVERGENCE. "Systematic analyses of convergent sequence evolution in 805,053 amino acids within 2,326 orthologous coding gene sequences compared across 22 mammals (including four newly sequenced bat genomes) revealed signatures consistent with convergence in nearly 200 loci. This first attempt to detect genome-wide convergent sequence evolution across divergent taxa reveals the phenomenon to be much more pervasive than previously recognized." https://lnkd.in/epGtvrz View in LinkedIn

ANOTHER exogenous dietary factor implicated in a variety of diseases are prions. Like mRNAs, they are also protected by exosomes, and like mRNAs, are controversial. Like mRNAs, prions are epigenetic regulators. Like mRNAs, prions can have both positive and negative effects on health. Like mRNAs, there are also endogenous sources of prions. View in LinkedIn

miRNA AND NEURODEGENERATION. "Dysregulation of microRNA-219 promotes neurodegeneration through post-transcriptional regulation of tau." https://lnkd.in/esYAtUn View in LinkedIn

miRNA AS MARKERS. "The differential expression and responses of selected c-miRNAs in overweight/obese individuals to an exercise and diet intervention suggests a putative role for these ‘biomarkers’ in the prediction or detection of individual variability to weight loss interventions." https://lnkd.in/eSJwPqc View in LinkedIn

DIET AND HEALTH. "Many people carefully monitor their food choices, adhering to the philosophy that ‘you are what you eat’. Recent research adds a new wrinkle to that old adage, suggesting that dietary small RNAs (sRNAs) can control the gene expression of the consumer and may provide an effective, noninvasive, and inexpensive therapy for many human diseases." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167779915001250 View in LinkedIn

DIET AND DISEASE. "Based on these evidences, challenging questions may be raised regarding how humans pick up microRNAs from diet and what are the broader roles played by such exogenous microRNAs in human disease processes." https://lnkd.in/ej7XF-E View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS the fragment on evolutionary convergence. The dual mechanisms of selective pressures and genetic variation, combined with millions of generations over time, constitute an incomparable bio-innovation machine, as evidenced by the endless examples of convergence in nature. With simultaneous solution of major niche problems by different species also comes a fountain of biological diversity. Next weekend, evolutionary simplification. View in LinkedIn

RARE CONVERGENCE. "It is clear that the vast majority of sequences in the genomes have domain architectures which have arisen by evolutionary descent rather than due to functional necessity. In short, convergent evolution of domain architectures is rare...we conclude that between 0.4 and 4% of sequences are involved in convergent evolution of domain architectures, and expect the actual number to be close to the lower bound." http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/8/1464.full View in LinkedIn

MINIMAL UNIT OF EVOLUTION. "A domain is the smallest unit of evolution by the definition from the SCOP database of known protein structures. Small proteins consist of a single domain, and some larger proteins consist of more than one domain. A part of a protein is only considered a domain in its own right if it is observed elsewhere in nature on its own or in combination with different partner domains." https://lnkd.in/efF6yTb View in LinkedIn

MOBILE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE (AR) GENES. "Sommer et al., functionally characterized the AR reservoir in the human gut microbiota; many AR genes identified using a culture-independent approach are evolutionarily distant from known resistance genes, first demonstrating the immense diversity of AR genes in the human microbiome." https://lnkd.in/ek24FD7 View in LinkedIn